Pages

October 23, 2009

Newsday: 2009 Collapse Would Be Worse Than 2004

Newsday's Wallace Matthews says that if the Yankees blow the ALCS to the Angels, it would be

the worst postseason collapse in their history. Yes, this would be worse than coughing up a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in 2004.

His reasoning?

[T]hese Angels are not nearly as good as the 2004 Red Sox. And these Yankees are a lot better than the 2004 Yankees. At least, they're supposed to be.

If the Angels come back, the Yankees would have spit up a 3-1 lead, not an unprecedented 3-0 advantage. That alone makes Matthews dead wrong. But there is also this: the Angels are the Angels and the Red Sox were the Red Sox.

Then again, this is the same writer who complained that Tim Wakefield was perhaps the slowest worker on the mound in baseball and called him and his knuckleball "a bigger menace to the game than steroids".

Tim: I got 21 pretty much right off the bat, though I had to go to BRef to get the correct spelling of the 1B. Was stuck and then got two more before the 3:00 mark (I am shocked at who they were). Ended up not getting the last two.

"The only disgusting act was Joe Buck managing to talk clearly for 9 innings around a mouthful of Steinbrenner's nutsack. You generally have to visit a pachinko parlor to see high quality ball-washing like that."